How prices, locations & routes are sourced
Multi-API Architecture: Live flyer pricing via Flipp (backflipp.wishabi.com). Store shelf prices for Loblaw-banner chains (No Frills, Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Zehrs, Fortinos, Maxi, Provigo, Valu-Mart, Your Independent Grocer, Wholesale Club) come from PC Express (api.pcexpress.ca), queried at the branch nearest you — a price labelled “Store price” is that specific branch's shelf price and counts in trip totals for that branch only. Sobeys-family chains (Sobeys, IGA, Longo's) additionally show Voilà online prices — the public guest catalogue of Sobeys' Voilà storefront for the default Ontario region, relayed the same way; those are delivery/pickup catalogue prices, not shelf prices, so they are comparison-only and never counted in trip totals. Voilà's public data carries no pickup-store identifier (catalogue items only), so a Voilà price cannot honestly be tied to one specific branch; when a Voilà or everyday online price beats the best route for an item at a chain with a branch near you, the trip summary flags it by name, price and distance instead of leaving it buried in the comparison. Other chains have no equivalent public price source, so they show flyer deals and everyday prices only. Postal & GPS geocoding via Nominatim (OpenStreetMap), Photon (Komoot), and Zippopotam.us. Physical store branch discovery combines Flipp Store Metadata, a 3-mirror Overpass QL cluster (overpass-api.de, kumi.systems, mail.ru), Photon Spatial POI Search (photon.komoot.io), Nominatim Bounded Search with strict retail POI validation, and — for Loblaw banners — the PC Express store directory itself, whose branch coordinates come straight from Loblaw; PC-banner shelf prices are also checked at the nearest directory store of every banner inside your radius, even when that banner has no flyer deal this week.
Location trust engine: self-reported store coordinates are cross-verified against OpenStreetMap, area-centroid leaks are detected and discarded, and remaining unverified pins are reverse-address-checked via Photon. Any branch can be excluded from routing directly on the map or in store cards; exclusions are remembered per postal code. Driving distance matrices and turn-by-turn road geometry use OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) and FOSSGIS OSRM (routing.openstreetmap.de).
Unofficial tool; not affiliated with Flipp or any retail chain. Always verify in-store unit sizes, loyalty card requirements, and quantity limits.